Set up an FTP Repository from RHEL DVD

RHEL can be installed from various different sources. One of them is over the network, from an FTP accessible repository. Here's how to create such a repository:

  1. You will first need to install vsftpd from the RHEL DVD. See Install packages from RHEL DVD with yum on how to do that.

  2. After you have installed vsftpd, enable it and start it:

    chkconfig vsftpd on
    service vsftpd start
    

    At this point, you should be able to open ftp://localhost/ from the same system on which you are working, which will show you the contents of the /var/ftp/pub directory, the default FTP directory on RHEL.

  3. Create a directory for the repository:

    mkdir /var/ftp/pub/rhel
    
  4. Copy all the files from the DVD to the repository. Assuming that either the DVD or the .iso image is mounted at /media/rhel:

    cp --recursive --archive /media/rhel/. /var/ftp/pub/rhel/
    
  5. Change the SELinux context of the files in the repository:

    chcon --recursive --reference=/var/ftp/pub/ /var/ftp/pub/rhel/
    
  6. At this point the repository is only accessible from the system on which it runs, since iptables by default does not allow FTP traffic from other hosts. To open this access, edit your /etc/sysconfig/iptables and add these lines before the COMMIT command:

    -A INPUT -m state --state NEW -m tcp -p tcp --dport 21 -j ACCEPT
    

    ...and reload the firewall:

    service iptables reload
    

    Alternatively, you can do from the command line:

    iptables -I INPUT -m state --state NEW -m tcp -p tcp --dport 21 -j ACCEPT
    service iptables save
    

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